Apple free to sell 4S in France

A French court has denied Samsung’s preliminary injunction request to stop the sale of Apple’s iPhone 4S, both parties have confirmed.

The ruling was handed down by the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris.

Back in October, Samsung greeted the arrival of the latest iPhone by filing motions in Paris and Milan to stop the sale of the smartphone. According to Samsung, Apple had infringed on patents related to wireless telecommunications technology, specifically WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) standards for 3G mobile handsets.

Samsung may have lost this round, but isn’t giving up the fight: “We will review the written grounds of today’s judgment, and continue to take all available options to assert our intellectual property rights to stop this free riding on our technology,” a spokesman said via email.

Apple didn’t want to elaborate on the specifics of the ruling in Paris, according to a spokesman.